On Thursday, ROH had its 100th episode of TV under Tony Khan. To celebrate, they had one title defense. Prior to the show, three matches were announced while there were four “in action” graphics. That was the first sign that there wouldn’t be much celebration for their big milestone.
In the opening match, Komander put his TV title on the line against QT Marshall. On episode 99, Marshall lasted 10 minutes in a Proving Ground match which allowed him to challenge for the title. Following Komander retaining his title, Lee Johnson came out and made the universal gesture for wanting a title. Later in the show, it was announced that Johnson would face the champion in a Proving Ground match next week.
The main event saw Shane Taylor take on Katsyouri Shibata. Last week on “Collision”, Shane Taylor Promotion faced Undisputed Kingdom. After the match, STP attacked their opponents. TNT Champion Daniel Garcia and Shibata made the save. Someone sent Taylor and Shibata a memo about this being the 100th episode and they had a pay-per-view quality match. Shibata got the win, which led to Taylor having his group attack the legend. Undisputed Kingdom and Garcia made the save.
There was a good women’s match between Taya Valkyrie and Lady Frost. Frost has been with ROH since the beginning of the “TK Era” while Valkyrie has spent a lot of time there. It was nice to see them featured. Other than that, the show was full of short matches and a classic tag match between recently retired Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal and Shingo Takagi and CIMA. The match was good, but took up over 20 minutes of the show. For a few months, ROH has been airing a classic match. While it does show viewers the types of matches in the library, it’s used as show filler.
As I mentioned before, Komander was the only champion to compete. The show opened with former ROH World Champion, Mark Briscoe congratulating ROH reaching 100 episodes. Current World Champion Chris Jericho and Women’s Champion (and longest-reigning champion in ROH history) ATHENA appeared via video as well. The Women’s TV Champion and the tag team champs (in which Dustin Rhodes is one-third of the Trios Champions) were MIA. The Pure Champion, Lee Moriarty, accompanied Shane Taylor to the ring.
In fairness, there was inclement weather prior to both “Collision” and “Dynamite”, so perhaps the other champions couldn’t make it or didn’t have time to film anything. Overall, it felt like just another episode. The early episodes in the “TK Era” were fun and jam packed. When they were filming multiple episodes in Orlando, the show felt more focused and there were both good matches and storyline movement.
Once ROH started going on the road, it really began to feel like the brand was an afterthought. Tony Khan was focused on AEW, securing a new TV deal, a streaming deal, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and Fulham FC. It’s a lot to run one successful wrestling promotion, let alone two.
Khan is juggling a lot and ROH often gets left by the wayside. When it’s closer to a pay-per-view, things generally pick up for a couple weeks. They deliver banger shows and then it’s right back to feeling like an afterthought.
It’s on me to have expected more from episode 100. ROH didn’t acknowledge ATHENA breaking 500 days as champion and it took weeks for her to get a championship celebration when she made history. Episode 99 was one of the better shows in a while which made me more optimistic than I should’ve been.
I still like ROH, even when it can be a chore to get through. Perhaps I expect too much because I have watched from the beginning of the current era. I have watched all 100 episodes. I’ve seen the good, bad, and the ugly. I really hope ROH gets a TV deal, but it needs a refresh. There were things that didn’t work in the beginning, but the excitement and passion were there. If ROH is going to last “100 more and then 100 more” as Briscoe said, something’s got to change.